


Lawyer Ninja

by PixelByPixel



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Gen, Law School, Matt Murdock & Foggy Nelson Friendship, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson at Columbia, whumptober2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-07
Packaged: 2020-11-26 12:11:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20930021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixelByPixel/pseuds/PixelByPixel
Summary: Matt and Foggy walk home from the law library. What could possibly go wrong?





	Lawyer Ninja

**Author's Note:**

> For Whumptober 2019, alt prompt #5, fist fight. This also fills my Daredevil bingo square blow-by-blow.

The first time that Foggy Nelson thought Matthew Murdock might be a little _non compos mentis_, they were walking back to their dorm from the law library, where they had actually been studying for once. Matt, of course, was still arguing his point; Foggy had given up five minutes earlier, but Matt kept talking.

“You’re going to make a hell of a lawyer,” Foggy teased, to see if he could make Matt smile.

Matt grinned and drew in a breath, no doubt for more arguing, but then he just stopped: stopped talking, stopped walking, maybe even stopped breathing.

“What’s the -?” Foggy began, but Matt held up a hand and Foggy shut up.

“Listen.”

Foggy did, and he heard it: the sounds of scuffling, shouting, maybe somebody punching somebody else. And then possibly a trash can getting knocked over; Foggy wasn’t sure.

Foggy was never one to back down from a fight.

Okay, sometimes he would back down, if the other guy was big, or maybe if he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep the night before, or if he could talk his way out of whatever it was.

But Matt? He was off before Foggy could begin to wonder, out loud, what the issue was. His cane swinging before him, maybe hitting with a little too much force, he made his way to the alley that was the source of the ruckus.

Of course, Foggy followed. He wasn’t going to let his roommate face whatever that was all on his own.

The streetlight closest to the alley flickered and then went out, adding to the creepy, horror-movie vibe that crept up Foggy’s spine as he approached the alley. Matt was already there - damn, he was fast; it wasn’t at all that Foggy had hesitated - and Foggy could hear him talking.

“- work this out.”

The smaller guy, the one with his back shoved against the side of the building, looked ready to work things out. The bigger guy, the one with his fist in the other guy’s face, seemed less amenable.

“Fuck you!”

Definitely not amenable, no.

“Matt, maybe…” But what was Foggy going to say? Maybe they should leave and let this guy get his ass kicked? No, of course not. Even if he could live with himself if he did that, he couldn’t take the look he knew he’d see on Matt’s face.

The little guy didn’t say anything, but he did groan when the bigger guy shoved him him against the building.

“Did he, uh, do something to offend you?” Foggy tried.

“Shut up!”

Matt eased closer, and of course Foggy did as well.

“I didn’t do anything,” Little Guy protested, though he subsided when Big Guy shoved him again and replied, “Tell that to my sister, you asshole.”

So maybe it wasn’t as cut-and-dried as it looked. Foggy knew about sisters and the feelings they could cause, the way you’d want to kill them one minute and be ready to kill _for_ them the next.

Little Guy didn’t smirk or anything; he looked a little scared, which Foggy thought was a smart reaction. At least Big Guy was only using his fists. Well, Foggy couldn’t see any other weapon, but between the late hour and the busted streetlight, he wasnt seeing much of anything.

Matt eased in a little closer. “So maybe we can talk this out. What can this guy do to make things better for your sister?”

“What the fuck are you, a lawyer or something?”

Foggy saw Matt’s teeth flash white and practically felt the charm radiating off him. Seriously, if Matty could bottle his charisma, he’d make a mint. “Not yet. But how can he make things right? There has to be something.”

Big Guy was clearly thinking about it. Foggy bit back a grin, already planning to tell the story of How My Rooommate Saved the Day when Big Guy apparently came to a decision.

“He can bleed!”

Foggy was still shaking his head at the cheese factor of the line when he realized that Big Guy had pulled a knife.

He… wasn’t entirely sure what happened next. Somebody shoved him away from Big Guy, knocking him on his ass; by the time he’d gotten back up, Big Guy was on the ground clutching his arm and Little Guy had taken off.

“What,” he said, “the hell?”

Matt shrugged and straightened his glasses. “Guess he tripped.”

And Big Guy was too busy complaining about his arm to say how it had happened.

Foggy… maybe he had tripped, too, or lost his balance somehow? Maybe seeing the knife had freaked him out?

“Should we… call somebody?” he asked. He wasn’t sure who. Ambulances were expensive and he doubted Big Guy was in a profession that provided health insurance; the cops weren’t necessarily helpful.

“Nah,” Matt replied. “He’s not too hurt. He can get himself to the ER if he has to.” And, in fact, Big Guy scrambled to his feet and ran away, muttering something about creepy lawyer ninjas.

“Lawyer ninjas,” Foggy exclaimed. “That’s what we should be! We have to think up a good catchphrase.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed. “Good idea. But let’s go home first.”

“And have beer?” Foggy felt like the evening called for some alcohol. If nothing else, it would blunt the uneasy feeling the recent events had generated, and maybe help with the whole catchphrase thing.

“And have beer.”

Matt turned back toward the dorm and Foggy fell into step beside him. He wasn’t going to think too hard about what happened. Years later when he stood in Matt’s apartment and looked down at his battered friend, betrayal and anger and gut-wrenching fear for Matt all whirling through his mind, he would remember that night.

_Lawyer ninja,_ he’d think. _Son of a bitch._


End file.
